The 20th Annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium took place on March 5th and 6th, 2020 on the campus of UC Davis. The speaker lineup was top-notch, including plenary lectures by Bob Bergman (UCB) and Jennifer Doudna (UCB), Keynote lectures by Cynthia Burroughs (Utah) and Eric Anslyn (UT Austin), and many additional lectures from chemists in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. The...

ACS Sacramento Section is proud to offer two $250 student travel awards to the 2020 ACS meeting in San Francisco, and $1000 to support travel to an international chemistry conference/meeting/internship. The application is due May 1st to Dean Tantillo. For details on the ACS meeting awards, click here. For details on the international travel award click here. In 2019, the winners when...

Arlene Laurison has won the 2018 Western Regional Excellence in High School Teaching Award. Laurison wins $1,000 and will travel to receive her award at the Western Region Meeting on October 27th in Pasadena. Arlene Laurison Laurison previously won the 2018 Jan Hayes High School Teachers Award for the Sacramento Section. Our section will now be nominating her for the James Bryant Conant Award in High School Chemistry Teaching, a...

On September 29th we held our 4th annual Flavors of Chemistry event, with great success, with nearly 90 attendees. Members from several sections came together to honor award winners and learn about the chemistry of beer and cheese flavor. ACS Sacramento Section Chair Marc Foster opened the event by presenting awards to the Sacramento Section honorees. Three of the section’s long-time members were in attendance. Each long-time member...

Ph.D. Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, University of California, Davis M.S. Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, University of California, Davis M.A. Education, California State University, Sacramento B.A. Chemistry, California State University, Sacramento Dr. Wong has over 45 years experience in the analytical chemistry field. He has served as principal investigator of numerous government and industrial projects...

Donald Wedegaertner graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS Chemistry degree in 1958.He joined the American Chemical Society in 1958 upon beginning graduate studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where a PhD in Organic Chemistry was earned in 1962. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Iowa State University.In 1963 he began a 42 year career teaching in the Chemistry Department at the University of Pacific,...

Dr. Chu came to the United States of America to further his education after receiving a B. S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a Ph. D. degree in Physical Chemistry in 1968. He pursued his professional career at American Optical Corporation in Massachusetts. He held the position of Director of Chemical Technology when he retired. His...

Jan Hayes (center) with Mariela Carpio-Obeso (left) and Bill Miller at the 2018 Fall ACS meeting Janan (Jan) Hayes first joined ACS during her Ph.D. program at Brigham Young University. She had already gotten her B.A. and M.S. in Physical Science Education from Oregon State University and taught high school chemistry at Fortuna CA High School. She came to Sacramento as a faculty member at American River College in 1971 after...

Dr. James N. Seiber The annual Sterling B. Hendricks Memorial Lectureship was established by the Agricultural Research Service in 1981 to honor the memory of a great scientist by recognizing scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the chemical science of agriculture. The US Department of Agriculture, American Chemical Society- Agrochemicals Division and Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division awarded the 2018 prize to...

Space and beyond: 2018 ACS Nano-Western Regional Meeting Saturday, October 27, 2018 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena “Chemistry is Out of this World” Speakers will talk on space/chemistry-related themes with a poster session for undergraduates and graduate students. Contact: acswrm.org

ACS Sacramento Section is proud to present the 2018 Flavors of Chemistry event. The event will feature Prof. Charlie Bamforth speaking about the flavors of beer and Prof. David Everett talking about the flavors of cheese. The event will occur on Saturday September 29th from 1-4pm in the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) Ballroom on the UC Davis campus. Prof. Bamforth is the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and...

The Sacramento Section of the ACS has been working hard to recognize its members through three relatively new awards: Jan Hayes High School Teacher Award: $1,000 John Berg High School Chemistry Student Award: $1,000 Student Travel Awards: two $250 We are looking for someone or a company that would be willing to sponsor each of these awards. Please contact Bill Miller if you are interested in discussing a partial or full sponsorship of...

ACS Sacramento is very pleased to announce the John Berg High School Chemistry Student Scholarship, a new scholarship for high school students who intend to major in chemistry or a chemistry-related field. This scholarship will be for $1,000 and has a May 1, 2019 deadline. The scholarship is named for John Berg. John has served the Sacramento Section for a long time and in many ways. When he became a 50 year member of ACS, there was...

There will be a one-day Western Regional Meeting (WRM) on October 27th at CalTech. The theme of the meeting is “Chemistry is Out of this World.” Speakers will talk on space/ chemistry-related themes with a poster session for undergraduate and graduate students. Three awards will be announced at the WRM: 1. E. Ann Nalley Western Region Award for Volunteer Service 2. Stanley Israel Western Region Award for Advancing...

The Sacramento Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is pleased to announce that Arlene Laurison won the Janan Hayes High School Teacher Award (HSTA) for 2018. Ms. Laurison teaches at Sheldon High School. Ms. Laurison wins a $500 cash prize and $500 for classroom supplies. Additionally, she will be honored at the Sacramento Section’s awards ceremony on September 29th, 2018 that is part of the section’s “Flavors of Chemistry”...

The members of the awards subcommittee review applications for the Jan Hayes High School Teacher’s Award, the John Berg High School Chemistry Student Scholarship, and the Student Travel Award. These members are: Dean Tantillo, Professor of Chemistry at UC Davis Liang Xue, Professor of Chemistry at the University of the Pacific Marisa Alviar-Agnew, Professor of Chemistry at Sacramento City College Veronica Wheaton, Professor of...

It was another great showing at this year’s High School Chemistry Olympiad with 60 students chowing up from 14 area high schools. These included Sheldon, Folsom, Davis, Pioneer, Mira Loma, Sacramento Country Day, Tracy, Oak Ridge, Rocklin, Lodi, Oakmont, Franklin, Vista de Lago, and John Adams Academy High Schools. The Olympiad was hosted by Mako Masuno and Varnell Crankfield at Sacramento City College (SCC) and sponsored by ACS...

Save the date! Flavors of chemistry is scheduled for September 29th at the ARC ballroom at UC Davis. This year, Charlie Bamforth will be speaking on the flavor of beer, with more speakers to come. See you there! by Carla Saunders

Congratulations to Cindy Castronovo for winning the ACS Sacramento Section Volunteer of the year! Cindy Castronovo has been a long time contributor to the Sacramento local section, serving on the Executive Committee and spearheading the section’s involvement in various outreach activities in the Sacramento area. Cindy has served and currently serves as the Secretary for the section. Thank you, Cindy! Previous winners were Mako...